• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 16, age appropriate for kids over 99; suggested age 16.

• Is it any good?

  3.0

• Common Sense says

  Global social networking has some iffy content.

Why We Rated This for Ages 16–18

The good stuff

• Educational value:

  There's a safety section for parents and teens that suggests teens "avoid" getting together with someone they meet online. But, it adds, if they do meet an online friend to do it in public and bring a parent along. This doesn't stress how dangerous it may be under any circumstance to meet an online stranger.

What to watch out for

• Messages:

  The global aspect of hi5.com adds an interesting twist to the mix of social networking sites. Many different cultures and languages represented. Of course, there's a lot of iffy behavior that kids shouldn't be a part of.
• Violence:

  As with any social networking site, content varies on each page. Some profiles have violent content (posts or music videos), while others don't even go there.
• Sex:

  As with any social networking site, content varies on each page. Unfortunately, the page names don't always give an accurate clue to content. For example, one site listed under sports and recreation is all pornography.
• Language:

  As with any social networking site, content varies on each page. There's a lot of swearing on some personal pages, but a lot of pages are very clean.
• Consumerism:

  Ads from major corporations like AT&T, as well as music videos, TV show clips, and more.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  There's some talk (and photos) of underage drinking and drug usage, and some people brag about doing both.

What Parents Need to Know

About hi5

Families Can Talk About